The present invention is both a method and an apparatus that enables a client device which has very limited processing capability, namely a “thin-client” device, to access and use the fall resources of a server over a network. In particular, the present invention relates to a method and an apparatus in which a thin-client device and a server communicate over the network by messages that represent discreet events and that adhere to a control-oriented protocol in accordance with the invention.
With the explosion of the Internet, a worldwide focus has been placed on the discipline known as network computing. The Internet has demonstrated to the world the immense power and opportunity presented by the capability of individuals in different locales to exchange and view information. Simultaneously, the Internet has proven that the thin-client computing model, where multiple client devices access information stored on centralized servers, is a viable and efficient means of organizing a computer infrastructure.
Concurrent with the renewed interest in network computing, computing technology continued to provide less expensive devices with ever increasing options to connect with remote computing devices via a growing number of varied communications network infrastructures. While the Internet has acted as a catalyst for development and improvement of the methodologies used to exchange, distribute and access data stored on distinct and remote computing machines, relatively little improvement has been made in the way in which applications stored on distinct and remote computing machines, are shared. The thin-client computing model, while not a new phenomenon, has been widely accepted by organizations engaged in providing access to applications to a large number of potential users. The thin-client computing model has been widely embraced due to its lower cost of maintenance when compared with the alternative thick-client computing model, as well as ease with which a thin-client computing installation can be upgraded.
However, the current normally accepted methods of achieving thin-client access to central applications have not evolved along with the nature and capability of the applications being accessed. The focus of these older thin-client computing methodologies traditionally has been either character-based application access, or thin-client computing via a network of fixed workstations with permanent and otherwise reliable connections to a wired communications network. Typically, these conventional methodologies, and conventional architecture incorporating such methodologies, have adopted a display-based protocol for regulating data transmission between the thin-client and the server computer. Extending such conventional thin-client architecture to wireless devices immediately confronts the challenges of limited bandwidth. Conventional architectures have proven inefficient and ill-suited for the constraints imposed by limited bandwidth in wireless communication.